From newsroom to power centre: Veena George’s stormy political ride

The Opposition UDF and BJP in Kerala, along with their women’s and youth wings, have taken to the streets in intense protests demanding the resignation of Kerala Health Minister Veena George. The unrest stems from a string of controversies that have hit the state’s health sector — from the structural collapse at Kottayam Medical College to whistleblower allegations by Dr Haris Chirakkal at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College.

“She’s clearly not capable of managing the portfolio. It’s time she steps down and returns to what she might be better at — perhaps television anchoring,” Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, former minister and Congress leader, fumed after the Kottayam incident.

Dramatic transition

Veena George’s rise in Kerala’s political landscape is one of the most-talked-about transitions in recent years — from a prime-time news anchor to the state’s health minister.

A relatively late entrant into electoral politics, her trajectory captures the evolving strategy of the CPI(M) as it negotiates with changing demographics, media scrutiny, and internal dissent.

Positioned at the intersection of image politics and cadre-based governance, her career offers an insightful case study in political branding, social engineering, and the challenges of legacy.

Also read: Kerala hospital building collapse: Protests seeking Veena George's resignation continue

Calm presence, sharp intellect

Before her political innings, Veena George was a fixture in Malayalam television newsrooms. Known for her articulate anchoring and sharp interviewing style, she worked with major channels like Kairali TV, Indiavision, Manorama News, and Reporter TV.

Her calm, composed presence gave her wide recognition, especially among Kerala’s urban middle class. But in 2016, she made a sudden and strategic leap from media to electoral politics — a move that stunned many, but not those watching the CPI(M)’s evolving playbook.

Baptism by fire

The party fielded her in Aranmula, a prestigious but tough constituency in Pathanamthitta district. This region — part of the Central Travancore belt — has historically been dominated by upper-caste Hindus and various denominations of the Christian community, making it a challenging terrain for the CPI(M)’s traditional working-class politics.

Veena’s candidature, however, was no accident. Her Orthodox Christian background, media capital, and gender — all served the party’s renewed push for inclusivity and representation in a region it had long tried to penetrate.

Also read: Kottayam medical college incident: CPI(M) rules out Health Minister Veena George’s resignation

Deeper recalibration

Central Travancore is politically unique — a land of powerful churches, landed Christian families, and entrenched Congress loyalties. In choosing Veena George, the CPI(M) was attempting more than just a symbolic gesture. It was part of a deeper political recalibration: reaching out to Christian communities disillusioned with the Congress, especially after the rise of communal politics elsewhere in India. The CPI(M), often seen as rigid, was now experimenting with broader social alliances.

Veena fit the bill perfectly and was embraced not as an outsider, but as a full-fledged party candidate — later even inducted into the district committee. Though not a traditional product of the party’s cadre system, she brought with her the ability to connect with communities and constituencies that the CPI(M) had long found difficult to reach.

Shailaja’s hallowed shoes

Her 2016 victory and re-election in 2021 were seen as a validation of this strategy — despite her loss in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Pathanamthitta when she contested during her first term as MLA — reinforcing the Left’s belief that it could broaden its appeal by embracing professionalism, diversity, and gender representation without straying from its core ideological framework.

In the second Pinarayi Vijayan ministry formed in 2021, Veena George was named health minister — succeeding none other than KK Shailaja, whose pandemic management earned global acclaim. The decision triggered a mix of curiosity, criticism, and internal party discomfort. Why, many asked, was Shailaja dropped? And was Veena ready to fill those shoes?

Also read: Is Kerala's celebrated healthcare model weakening? Doctor's post sparks debate

Internal dissent

Within the CPI(M), voices of discontent — some muted, others explicit — began surfacing. Her quick rise through the ranks was viewed with unease, especially by the older guard who had spent decades in the trenches of class struggle and organisational loyalty.

Veteran leaders in Pathanamthitta, like A Padmakumar and grassroots functionaries like P J Johnson, a local committee member who publicly criticised her on Facebook recently, pointed to what they felt was a bypassing of the party’s seniority norms and a lack of consultative politics.

“One must work with the people; merely elevating someone with a bit of parliamentary experience serves no real purpose in a communist party” — this was Padmakumar’s pointed remark when she was inducted into the party’s state committee as a special invitee last year.

Padmakumar retracted his Facebook post expressing disappointment after the party state conference, as the leadership cracked the whip on him.

A lightning rod

From early on, the Opposition has made Veena George a lightning rod. In Assembly debates and street agitations, she has been portrayed as incompetent and out of touch. Each incident — a medical negligence case, a disease outbreak, an administrative lapse — is used to build a narrative of ministerial failure. The pressure is especially high because her predecessor had set the bar extraordinarily high.

Singling her out, along with PA Mohammed Riyas — who also happens to be the son-in-law of Pinarayi Vijayan — the Congress and the BJP have positioned their critique not just as a policy issue but as an attack on the centralised functioning of the Pinarayi government. By portraying her as a non-performer who rose due to proximity rather than merit, they seek to undermine the government’s reformist image and question its moral legitimacy.

Also read: Kerala to review anganwadi food after child requests biryani, chicken fry

“This is a calculated move. The UDF’s poll strategists seem to have zeroed in on Veena and Riyas as soft targets to attack the government,” said a senior CPI(M) leader. “They know they can’t convincingly accuse the government of inefficiency, so they’re trying to project these two as weak links — which they are not. With the media playing along, it’s a clear attempt to create that perception. But we’re fully aware of what’s going on.”

Relentless scrutiny

This coordinated political assault has coincided with intensified media scrutiny. Unlike her earlier days as a respected journalist, Veena now faces relentless coverage questioning everything — from her tone during press meets to her administrative priorities. The same media institutions she once served now dissect her responses frame by frame, often ignoring nuance in favour of sensationalism.

“Unfortunately, much of the targeting came from former colleagues,” Veena George had said in an earlier conversation. “Some had personal scores to settle — like one individual I found guilty while serving on the Internal Complaints Committee at a news channel, who has since been relentlessly attacking me. But I didn’t have the luxury to pay attention to any of that, as I took charge right in the middle of crucial COVID follow-up operations.”

Tough tests

The health ministry under Veena George has been tested like few others. While the COVID-19 tail end still needed managing in 2021, new crises kept emerging: repeated Nipah virus outbreaks in Malabar region, dengue surges, staff shortages in public hospitals, and collapsing infrastructure. The recent incident at Kottayam Medical College, where a building crumbled under her watch, proved to be a tipping point.

Public confidence, already frayed, has taken further hits. Each tragedy is no longer seen in isolation but as part of a perceived pattern of lapses. The impression that Veena George lacks firm control over her department has gained traction, despite concrete administrative efforts to revamp public health systems, strengthen digital infrastructure, and expand rural outreach.

Also read: Toddler’s wish fulfilled; Kerala anganwadis get biryani, and much more

Truth of health sector

Ironically, the facts tell a more complex story: under her tenure, the health sector has undergone significant transformation — with major strides in infrastructure and technology, and government hospitals increasingly competing with private institutions, regaining public trust and momentum in the broader health landscape.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of Veena George’s job is the legacy she inherited. KK Shailaja had become a household name, synonymous with proactive governance and empathetic leadership. This contrast fed public discontent. Every decision Veena takes is compared with how “Shailaja Teacher would have done it.”

Great expectations

While the contexts are entirely different — managing the first wave of a new virus is not the same as post-pandemic recovery — the public imagination is not always rational. Veena is expected to not just run the ministry but to match a myth.

At a deeper level, her rise and the backlash she now faces reveal the evolving nature of Kerala’s political culture. Identity, performance, loyalty, gender, and media optics all collide in her story. And in this collision, the CPI(M) too is being tested — on whether its new political grammar can hold, and whether its new icons can stand the heat.